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Fun with Facebook

Jan 21st, 2012
by Pirate Alice.
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If you are interested in trying something new on Facebook, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on English which is next to the Facebook copyright. Mind you, it will be difficult to scroll to the bottom of your news feed page, as you scroll down it will load up more posts and move the bottom of the page further down. Once you get to the bottom click on the language link (mine was English (US))

And then on the next screen choose English (Pirate). Now you will experience a lot of fun things with your Facebook page.

And even if you log out, you’ll get some fun Pirate awesomeness.

You’re welcome!

 

Gingersnap Cookies

Dec 7th, 2011
by Pirate Alice.
2 comments

I’m going to a cookie exchange this weekend and for the past month I’ve been debating what to make. My last attempt at cookies of any kind was a huge failure.  I have no idea what went wrong but I’ve been avoiding cookies ever since. I thought maybe I’d just make a pile of Puppy Chow and be done with it, but the call for cookies made me want to stand tall and say, “Challenge accepted!” I forged on and created the beauties that you see photographed with this post (click that photo see it in it’s huge glory!) I followed the “Grandma’s Gingersnap Cookies” recipe at All Recipes.com.

I made two slight changes, I wanted a spicier cookie so I added ground cloves and a bit of nutmeg, and the recipe called for shortening but I used butter. Here’s the recipe as I made it:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1tbl ground ginger
  • 2tsp baking soda
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup sweet cream salted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar mixture

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Sift flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and salt into a bowl and set aside. (I mixed it all up with a whisk.)

Place butter into another mixing bowl and beat until creamy (room temp works best here). Gradually beat in sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses until well combined. Gradually add flour mixture into shortening mix and stir thoroughly until well combined. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.  Bake about 10-13 min until tops are rounded and slightly cracked.

I reviewed several recipes until I decided on this one. Some say to refrigerate the dough for a bit before rolling and baking. I did not chill the dough at all and these turned out just fine. The original recipe does not say to chill it either. So if you want to chill the dough that could be something to consider.

I have a Pampered Chef baking stone, a Calphalon jelly roll pan and a Wilton cookie sheet. I found the baking stone made the prettiest cookies with the nice, cracked top (the ones in the photo). Calphalon came in second and Wilton came in last for the prettiness.  Just as a note if you’re trying to figure out why your cookies don’t look as cool as mine in the picture. Baking stones haven’t always been the best for me with cookies. This is why I have the other metal pans, because baking is so touchy. Did you follow the cookie fail link up there? Yeah, that was for EVERY pan of cookies I tried baking no matter what I used. I’m still not sure what went wrong there.  As a final note, there was an egg suicide while baking. It leaped right from my hand onto the floor. Eggs are hard to clean off the floor so if you can prevent egg suicide I’d recommend it.

The unsent letter

Nov 17th, 2011
by Pirate Alice.
3 comments

I am an advocate of journaling. I have so many different journals spread all across my house. I find it the best way to work through things that are caught up in my head. Admittedly, some things take longer than others. But each time I sit down and write about it, it is therapeutic. One technique I find helpful is the unsent letter. Writing a letter to a person who you feel has wronged you, that you find you have trouble speaking to in person, who has passed away, or maybe even someone you have never met can be very helpful. Sometimes I’m shocked at what I find I want to say. Sometimes I find it helps me organize my thoughts. But each and every time I find it helps me get what I’ve been keeping inside out of me.

A friend of mine shared a letter she wrote to someone. I was incredibly honored that she feels she can trust me with such a private thing. I’ve written so many letters since I started keeping a journal. As much as I wanted to share them with people (and not just the person I was writing to) I always held back. I haven’t even read any of them to my therapist, I always seem to “forget” to have the journal with me.

You don’t have to restrict yourself to just a letter. Try writing a dialog with the person where you speak not only for yourself but for him/her as well. This helps me get a better handle on both sides of the story. You can also try to rewrite the way the story ends for you. I find it empowering to have control over a situation that previously left me feeling helpless. I’ve also incorporated some people as characters into stories I was working on. This helped me to take out some aggression, get some sense of satisfaction, and move my plot along when I was all worked up over something that was distracting me from writing.

Remember, the unsent letter is just that – a letter you don’t have to send. If after a period of time has passed, and you feel this letter NEEDS to be sent, that’s up to you. But just because you wrote the letter, that doesn’t mean it has to be put in and envelope or copy/pasted into an email or anything.  You can tear it up, burn it or bury it. Hell, you can even mail it off to Santa if you want. If you really want you can write that letter over and over and over, writing it once doesn’t mean you can’t do it again.

If you’re interested in reading some unsent letters, all you have to do is type it into Google and you’ll get plenty of blogs, tumblrs etc on the topic. Just skip over the stuff with World of Warcraft, apparently it’s also the name of an old quest.

Why do I love the internet?

Nov 16th, 2011
by Pirate Alice.
4 comments

Yesterday I was reminded just how awesome the internet has been to me. I was headed to an appointment when I saw a woman walking toward me in a super cute pair of red boots. When I was able to tear my eyes away from her footwear, I realized I knew her. I’d had phone conversations and emails with her. We just hadn’t met face to face. We stopped and had our “Oh My God!” moment and hugged each other fiercely. That meeting made my week…heck I think it made my November.

When I go on job interviews and try to explain to the hiring manager why I’ve chosen to move from media buying to web development, I don’t think I articulate just how amazing my online experiences have been and how much it means to me.

My internet journey began with a WebTV. I bought it because my brother told me we could use it to meet up and talk in the chat rooms and it’d be cool. (And it was way cheaper than buying a computer and a subscription to AOL.) But chatting with my brother ended up becoming secondary to chatting with all the amazing people I met online. We’d discuss how to build websites (on GeoCities) using our WebTVs, (not so easy when you have no way to upload images ) share our love of Science Fiction, and bond over hardships as well as celebrate joys in life. Almost 15 years later, I’m still friends with many of those people. I’ve even met some of them in person. They are all very dear friends.

Even now I’m still meeting fabulous people online either through social media or online communities. I’ve found soul sisters, mentors, coaches and an amazing support system through my online friends. The internet has helped me to build a community, a family, of people that I can turn to with all kinds of different questions and issues.  I want so much to be able to create and add to this resource I’ve found. I want to help other people see what I’ve seen and find the same kind of community that I’ve found. I want to help people see the power in the internet. I want everyone to know what I know. Social media isn’t just another way for businesses to sell you things you don’t need. It’s a way for you to reach out to others and connect. Give it a try!

Identity Theft

Nov 1st, 2011
by Pirate Alice.
Comments are off for this post

The weekend before my birthday my wallet was stolen. I called my bank immediately and cancelled my debit card. I have no credit cards because they are the devil. And everything else in my wallet was some kinda store discount card so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Mostly I was annoyed because that meant I had to get a new debit card from my bank and that always manages to take the longest amount of time humanly possible.

I hoped my wallet had just fallen out of my bag and some lovely person would mail it back to me. I did call the credit bureau they said they’d notify the others and I got a letter in the mail saying they had. I also contacted my bank and put a super secret password in place on my account. Then I continued about my business.

Over the weekend, though, I got a letter in the mail from Sears telling me my credit sucks so I can’t get a credit card. I thought, WTF? I haven’t been in a Sears in YEARS. Why on earth would I want a credit card?  I then realized those bastards who stole my wallet thought I had decent credit. Did they not notice that I have no credit cards?? Hello Dumbasses!  Well, after talking to my brother and being told some horror stories, I went to the police station and filed a police report so I could cover my ass. I then called the FTC as well as Trans Union, the credit bureau listed on the letter from Sears.  Well, it turns out that although Equifax (who I called the Monday after  my wallet was gone) said they’d tell the others, they didn’t actually tell the other bureaus that my stuff was stolen. If you are ever in this position, call TransUnion first, you actually get a person on the phone. Equifax is all automated, never do you get a human.

I ran my credit report and I saw that these jackwagons went to Sprint and AT&T as well.   I called Sprint to make sure they didn’t give these people anything (they did not) and I called AT&T to be sure as well. Since I do have AT&T home service already I was worried they may have given these idiots a phone or something and then I’d be stuck with the bill. A very lovely woman named Elizabeth helped me and gave me the number to their fraud department (If you think someone is trying to get AT&T service with your info call 866-718-2011)  The thieves did not get anything from AT&T with my info, thank goodness.

If you lose your wallet or it gets stolen, or if you think your identity has been stolen here’s what you need to do:

Call your bank first – hopefully they’re awesome like my bank and you get a human on the phone without pushing buttons. I honestly have no idea if anything with my bank account number was in my wallet, so they put a super secret password on my account.

Call the credit bureaus – all three of them. Don’t believe them when they say they will contact the others for you.

TransUnion

Equifax

Experian

Each of them have a way to report fraud online. TransUnion was the only one that  I called and actually  reached a person. I’d certainly start with them. If you’ve got the option to make these places call you to confirm that you’re the one applying for credit, do it. Experian has it on their online form, but you’ve got to check the box to make it appear. I did not see anything like that on Equifax’s form. TransUnion asked me if I wanted the option.

Call the FTC – 1-877-438-4338 Make sure it’s on file with them that your information was stolen. It will help you in your fight to prove your identity was stolen.

File a police report – I know it seems like a hassle to go to the police. Especially in a city like Chicago where they don’t even pull you over for turning right from the left hand lane in front of a police officer (I saw it happen!!).  But, in Illinois if your ID is lost or stolen and you have a police report you don’t pay the fine to get your ID replaced. Also, it’s something you’ll need when calling the FTC – they ask for the police report number.

And finally, keep written notes of dates and times when you did all of this. Also write down who you talked to at each place, the officer’s name who took the report (if it is not on the police report you received), and everything else you deem worthy of writing down.  Put all of this in a very safe place. Check your credit report immediately and then check it each year. Keep an eye on everything you get in the mail. Even if you think it’s junk, open it and look it over. I thought that Sears letter was junk but something made me open it. If you see someone submitted your info to any kind of lender or potential creditor, call them and make sure no one got credit that wasn’t you. I feel that I’m lucky that my credit is completely shot or I’d be fighting with a few places right now.

Check your wallet and purse right now, what’s in it that doesn’t need to be there? Take it out put it in a safe place and make sure you know where that safe place is because you don’t want to lose it. Also, if you carry your money, ID and bus pass in the same place – that’s going to bite you on the ass. Keep each one in a separate spot. Luckily my bus card was in a separate pocket of my bag and not in my wallet. I was still able to get home.

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